Side guide for printing presses



Aug. 16, 1938. w. GEGENHEEMER SIDE GUIDE FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed Aug. 26, 1936 INVENTOR. W/LLMM MM/wM/ m,

Patented Aug. 16, 1938 2,127,292 SIDE GUIDE FOR PRKNTINGPRESSES William Gegenheimer,

Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Willard Manufacturing Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 26,

2 Claims.

This invention relates generally to side guide mechanism for printingpresses, and particularly to a sheet registering device for controlling the position of paper as it is fed into a lithograph or printing press.

The invention consists generally in the arrangement of guide mechanism at the feed end of the press for accurately registering paper fed to the press and capable of being quickly, easily and conveniently operated to change its position either while the press is in operation or at rest. The invention consists. further in the arrangement of a carriage or carriages at the sides of the press having mechanism thereon, operated from the press for feeding the sheet to the stop mechanism, and also means operated from the paper feed mechanism for instantly releasing the paper from the guide at the The invention is carried out by means of the mechanism hereinafter described and claimed and a preferred embodiment of which is illustrated in the drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary front elevation showing one of the side guides at the feed end of a printing or lithograph press,

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the device as shown in Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a sectional view upon line 3--3 of Figure 1.

The improved guide or registering device is arranged in advance of the cylinder 4 of a conventional form of press and may or may not be associated with the usual feed board (not shown) The guide receives the sheets advanced to the cylinder and automatically guides them into such position as to be properly and accurately presented to the gripper mechanism of the cylinder. Should it be required that the adjustment be changed, such change may be readily accomplished either while the machine is in operation or at rest, and from a position at the side of the machine and convenient to the press operator. In accomplishing these general results, there may be provided a carriage including feed mechanism for one or both sides of the sheet to be fed to the press, and while but one of such feed devices proper time.

taken substantially is here disclosed, it will be understood that the mechanism to be described may be duplicated if desired at the opposite side of the press.

Arranged parallel with the cylinder at the feed end of the press is a shaft or track member 5, a power shaft 6, an oscillatory shaft 1 and a feed screw 8. These members are all arranged parallel with one another and relatively close together, the power and oscillatory shafts 6 and l 1936, Serial No. 98,089

being in vertical alinement with one another. The power shaft 6 will be connected in any suitable manner (not shown) with some movable part of the: press so as to rotate when the press is in motion, while the shaft 1 will be suitably associated with some part of the timing mechanism of the press feed so as to oscillate at proper intervals. The means by which this may be accomplished, being well known and understood, it is deemed unnecessary here to show or describe such power connections.

The registering means includes a carriage 9 supported by the said shafts and feed screw and capable of traveling longitudinally thereon. This carriage includes a table It so positioned as to receive and support an edge or side of the sheet to be fed to the press, the said table being usually arranged in horizontal alinement with the upper periphery of the'cylinder 4. The carriage 9 has associated therewith a power roller H with its axis disposed at right angles to the axis of power shaft 6. The said roller receives its power through beveled gears I2 and 13 connected to the roller and the shaft 6 respectively. The gear l3 travels with the carriage and is keyed or splined as at 14 to the power shaft 6. The power roller 5 i has its upper periphery disposed substantially in the plane of the table l0 so as to contact with the lower surface of a sheet l5 resting upon the said table.

The carriage has a post or stop It extending upwardly therefrom and to the upper end of which an arm I! is pivoted as at l8. The arm, thus pivoted intermediate its ends, is capable of rocking upon the supporting post so that the yoked end I9 is moved toward oraway from the table it. This yoked end of the arm carries an idler 2t adapted when in its lower position to engage the upper surface of a sheet 15 and to move the sheet into frictional contact with the underlying power roller ll. When so engaged, the direction of rotation of the said roller being as indicated by the arr-ow in Figure 1, the sheet i5 will be caused to move laterally until it contacts the stop or post I6. The yoked end of arm it may be equipped with a plate 2| to prevent buckling of the sheet.

The opposite end of arm I1 is pivotally connected as at 22 to the upper end of a pin or rod 23, the latter being threaded as shown to carry adjusting nuts 24 and 25. A finger 26 keyed or splined as at M to the shaft 1 has its outer end engaged with nut 25 of the pin or shank 23, and an expansion spring 28 encircling the said shank is engaged between the finger and the upper clamp nut 24. It is obvious, therefore, that the tension of the spring 28 may be accurately adjusted by manipulation of the nut 24.

The feed screw 8 has suitable bearing at its ends in the frame 29 of the printing machine, and is equipped with a hand crank 30 by means of which it may be manually rotated. Operation of the hand crank causes the feed screw to be rotated, moving the carriage and its associated mechanism in a direction determined by the direction of rotation of the screw. Such an adjustment permits of accurate setting of the carriage so that a proper registry may be attained.

In operation, the timing shaft 1 oscillates so as to move the finger 26 downwardly, causing arm l1 to rock upon its pivot and move the idler 20 out of the path of travel of a sheet fed to the table II], as shown by dotted lines in Figure 1. As soon as the sheet engages the table, the shaft 1 assumes normal position, whereupon the idler drops and moves into sheet engaging or clamping position above the power roller I I. As the latter is constantly rotating, the sheet is gripped and is moved laterally upon the table It! until the side of the sheet engages the stop or post IE, it being understood that the position of such stop or post properly defines the lateral margin of the sheet. The timing mechanism is also operated to move the idler 20 out of contact with the sheet as soon as the cylinder 4 arrives at the proper position for taking the sheet, so that the latter is free to move from the registering device immediately this occurs. The adjusting nut 24 enables the tension to be adjusted to compensate for different weights of paper stock fed to the press.

From the foregoing it is apparent that I have provided an extremely simple side guide and yet one which is capable of most accurate adjustment and easy and convenient of access by an operator. The construction and arrangement of the guide is such that adjustments maybe made at any time Without stopping or slowing down the press.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a sheet registering device, a power roller adapted to be engaged by a sheet, an arm pivoted adjacent to said roller, an idler carried by said arm and adapted to move in paper clamping engagement with said roller, a pin connected to said arm, a finger having an opening in one end toloosely receive said pin, an adjusting member on said pin, a spring interposed between said finger and said member, a nut on said pin engaging the finger on the side opposite to said spring, and a timing device controlling the movements of said finger.

2. In a sheet registering device for printing machines, a carriage associated with said machine and movable laterally of the path of travel of a sheet in said machine, a stop on said carriage, a power roller on said carriage adapted to be engaged by the sheet in its travel, an arm pivoted upon said carriage, an idler carried by said arm and adapted to move in paper clamping engagement with said power roller, a pin connected to said arm, a finger, said finger having an opening therein to receive said pin, an adjusting member on said pin, an expansion spring encircling said pin and interposed between said finger and said adjusting member, a nut on said pin engaging said finger on the side of the latter opposite to said spring, and a timing device controlling the movements of said finger.

WILLIAM GEGENHEIMER. 

